Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/141

129 They abode thus till the day departed and night darkened on them, when Meryem went up to her women and said to them, ‘Have ye locked the door?’ And they answered, ‘We have locked it.’ So she took them and went with them to a place called the Chapel of the Lady Mary the Virgin, Mother of Light, because the Christians pretend that her heart and soul are there. The girls betook themselves to prayer and worship and made the round of all the church; and when they had made an end of their visitation, the princess said to them, ‘I desire to pass the night alone in the Virgin’s chapel and seek a blessing thereof, for that yearning thereafter hath betided me, by reason of my long absence in the land of the Muslims: and as for you, when ye have made an end of your visitation, do ye sleep where ye will.’ ‘Be it as thou wilt,’ replied they, and leaving her alone in the chapel, dispersed about the church and slept.

The lady Meryem waited till they were out of sight and hearing, then went in search of Noureddin, whom she found sitting on coals of fire in a corner, awaiting her. He rose and kissed her hands and she sat down and made him sit by her side. Then she pulled off all that was upon her of clothes and ornaments and fine linen and taking Noureddin in her arms, strained him to her bosom. And they ceased not from kissing and clipping and clicketing to the tune of ‘In and out,’ saying the while, ‘How short are the nights of union and how long the nights of separation!’ and reciting the following cinquains:

O night of delight and first fruits of fair fate, Forefront of white nights, with glad fortune elate, Thou brought’st me the morn in the afternoon late. Thee as kohl in the eyes of the dawn shall we rate Or as slumber on eyes of ophthalmiac shed?

VOL. VIII.